REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION
Requirements Specifications is a document that specifies what you want the system to do. The requirement specification is written in the design stage.
It must be:

1. Correct
2. Unambiguous (the instructions you give should only mean one thing.
3. Complete (make sure all information involving the software requirements is stated)
4. Consistent
5. make sure the requirements are all achievable
6. Use requirements like “every key stroke should provide a user response within 100 milliseconds” not requirements like “my system should never ever crash”.

Benefits:
It makes the agreement between suppliers and customers about the software and what it’s meant to do clear and straight forward.
It gives customers a broad idea on what the system can or cannot do.
It makes it easier for the suppliers to develop the software/hardware
It gives suppliers an idea of how much the system should be sold for and the amount of money needed to carry out the project. Easy for carrying out cost-benefit analysis,
A good requirements specification can make verification and validation plans much easier.
It makes it easier for the new software to be updated.

Software requirements specifications (SRS)
Software requirements specifications (SRS) is the complete description of how a system that is about to be developed behaves. It describes all the things the users can do with the software.

Benefits:
It makes the agreement between suppliers and customers about the software and what it’s meant to do clear and straight forward.
It gives customers a broad idea on what the system can or cannot do.
It makes it easier for the suppliers to develop the software/hardware
It gives suppliers an idea of how much the system should be sold for and the amount of money needed to carry out the project.
A good SRS can make verification and validation plans much easier.
It makes it easier for the new software to be updated.

Example:
Your system requirements specification may consist of the following:

• Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1
• SQL Server 2008 Express with SP1
• Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)
• Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0
• Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
• Windows PowerShell 2.0
• SQL Server 2008 Native Client
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET
• ADO.NET Data Services Update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• A hotfix for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 that provides a method to support token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF.
• Windows Identity Foundation (WIF)

Hardware Systems Requirements
Hardware requirements specifications are the complete description of how the physical part of the system which is to be developed behaves. It describes all the things the users can do with the software.

Example:
The hardware requirements document may consist of the following:

• 800 megahertz (MHz) processor and 512 MB of system memory
• 20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for Super VGA graphics
• CD-ROM drive
• 1 gigahertz (GHz) 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) of system memory (512 megabytes (MB) for Home Basic)
• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space (20 GB for Home Basic)
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with WDDM and 128 MB of graphics memory (32 MB for Home Basic)
• DVD-ROM drive
• Audio Output

Sources…
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/products/system-requirements
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485.aspx#section2
http://www.nicrotoolsinc.com/Howsrs.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Requirements_Specification

By Nik Matabwa and Lerato Honde

File Structure

File structure is an order and pattern of bytes within a file. This is an example of a ‘file structure’;

Name	Text	10 letters
Class	Text and Numeric	2 numbers and 3 text
Cashier name	Text	10 letters
Item needed	Text	15 letters
Amount needed	Numeric	4 whole numbers
Qty. of item	Numeric	5 whole numbers
Total amount	Numeric	4 whole numbers
Change	Numeric	4 whole numbers
Tab	text	10 letters

This is an example of a file structure for the tuck shop
It shows the data required in the text boxes and has a specific data type, the file structure for the students and the people using the software will be different.
Hussain Mussa & Adnaan Bheda

nkanyiso

azam

Data capture form
A data capture form is method for colleting data. Data capture forms often use boxes

• alphanumeric data
• check boxes
• multiple choice answers
• open ended questions
• free hand written comments
• barcode

Or a set amount of spaces and irregularly provide examples too. This is to make sure each field is completed correctly.
Data is often entered as a code in a database. Codes like this are used because they:

• are quicker to type in
• use less disk space
• are easy to validate
• make searching the database easier as data is entered in a standard format

data capture form












Report:
Report is a way of collecting information that needs to be printed out







Screen layouts










Output form
From Textpattern CMS User Documentation

<txp:output_form>
The output_form tag can be used as a single or a container tag. Textpattern will replace this tag with the content resulting from the form called by the tag.
Examples
Example 1: Display static text at the head of a column
<txp:output_form form="headtext" />
Example 2: Manage header for all pages
Suppose you want to manage the DOCTYPE and the <head> section of your page template as a single-sourced block of content. You can create a form called page-header and save it as type misc. The content of the form might look like this (just one example):
<tt><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-W3CDTD XHTML 1.0 StrictEN" http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">
<head>
<title><txp:page_title /></title>
<txp:css />
</head></tt>
Then in each of your pages, you insert the header using...
<txp:output_form form="haut_page" />
...which will add the header to all the pages automatically.
The advantage of this is that when you edit your page header, you can do so once in the form and it will update all instances of use in your different pages at the same time.
Example 3: Manage small pieces of static text
You can use this tag in combination with a form to create small pieces of text that would not otherwise be managed as a regular article. For example you might define the copyright conditions of content on your site in a form and add that to one or more places via the output_form tag. Name the form copyright, save it as type misc and call the form using the tag structure...
<txp:output_form form="copyright">



Algorithm

To make a computer do anything, you have to write a computer program. To write a computer program, you have to tell the computer, step by step, exactly what you want it to do. The computer then "executes" the program, following each step mechanically, to accomplish the end goal. When you are telling the computer what to do, you also get to choose how// it's going to do it. That's where computer algorithms come in. The algorithm is the basic technique used to get the job done.

There are two ways to show an Algorithm. One way is through a systems flowchart and another way is through the Pseudo Code.

The taxi algorithm:

1. Go to the taxi stand.
2. Get in a taxi.
3. Give the driver my address.

The call-me algorithm: m,

1. When your plane arrives, call my cell phone.
2. Meet me outside baggage claim.

Flow Charts

• Systems Flow Chart

Purpose

A system flowchart is a concrete, physical model that documents, in an easily visualized, graphical form, the system’s discrete physical components (its programs, procedures, files, reports, screens, etc.).

even when the convention is followed because they help to clarify the documentation.

.

Program FlowChart

A program flow chart is used to describe the flow of data through a particular computer program, showing the exact sequence of operations performed by that program in order to process the data. Different graphic symbols are used to represent data input and output, decisions, branches, and subroutines











Pseudocode Examples

---

Pseudocode is an artificial and informal language that helps programmers develop algorithms. Pseudocode is a "text-based" detail (algorithmic) design tool.

The rules of Pseudocode are reasonably straightforward. All statements showing "dependency" are to be indented. These include while, do, for, if, switch. Examples below will illustrate this notion.

It uses the structural conventions of a programming language, but is intended for human reading rather than machine reading.

e.g.

1. For i = 1 to 100

set print_number to true

if i mod 3 = 0

print "Bizz" and set print_number to false

if i mod 5 = 0

print "Buzz" and set print_number to false

if print_number, print i

print a newline